TEANSACTIONS OF SECTION C. 535 



(Pharetrones, Zit.), there are several species belougiug to the Peronella and other 

 genera. 



Many of these species are scarcely separable from those occurring in the White 

 Jura of the Continent. The characters of the deposits in which they are found 

 indicate shallow water conditions, thus showing that the Hexactinellid sponges 

 were at this time less characteristically deep-water dwellers than at the present day. 

 The originally siliceous skeletons of Hexactinellids, Lithistids, and Catagmids have 

 all alike undergone a complete replacement by carbonate of lime ; the silica removed 

 has been redeposited in quartzose granules and crystals, frequently replacing the 

 calcic carbonate of associated corals and other fossils. 



6. Eighth Report on the Circulation of the Tlnderground Waters in the 

 Ferineahle Formations of England, and the Quality and Quantity 

 of the Water supplied to various Toivns and Districts from these For- 

 mations. — See Reports, p. 213. 



7. Evidence of Wave-Action at a depth of 40 fathoms in the English 



Channel. By Arthur B. Hunt, M.A., F.G.S. 



The author described and exhibited a soda-water bottle trawled about 20 miles 

 S.S.E. of the Start in a depth of about 40 fathoms. It is partially encrusted with 

 marine organisms. The surface, where exposed, presents the appearance of being 

 finely scratched or ground, and the embossed letters of the legend are chipped and 

 abraded. Many of the encrusting serpute are in a fragmentary state. The bottle 

 when received was about half full of a deposit consisting of quartzose sand, small 

 stones, shells (both whole and fragmentary), and other organic debris. Thirty-eight 

 species of sliells have been recognised ; two of them, a fusus and a single valve of 

 pecten, were so large that they could only pass through the neck of the bottle in 

 one position, the interior of it being slightly oval. 



The abraded exterior surface of the bottle, the broken serpulfe, and the presence 

 of stones and such large shells in the interior, indicated a considerable disturbance 

 at the bottom of the sea at some time after the bottle had been deposited there. 

 The fact that sei-pulffi were present at all proved that the disturbance was inter- 

 mittent and not continuous. The intermittent character of the disturbance 

 precluded its being referred to tidal currents, which would be constant in their 

 action, and pointed to reciprocal currents set up by waves during violent storms. 

 The fact that the exterior surface of the bottle in places presents the appearance of 

 ground glass cannot be ascribed to any chemical action of the sea-water, as there 

 is no corrosion of the interior surface ; nor can the chippings of tlie embossed 

 letters or the abrasion of the exterior surface have been in existence before the 

 bottle fell into tlie sea, as they are unlike the wear and. tear exhibited by any old 

 soda-water bottle in common use. The fusiform shape of the bottle, presenting as 

 it does no plane surface on which to rest, would render it liable to be rolled by any 

 currents at the sea-bottom. 



For further evidence of the Action of waves on the bottom of the English 

 Channel, the author referred to his paper on the Formation of lUpplemark. (Proc. 

 Roy. Soc, 1882). 



8. List of Works on the Geology and Palceontology of Oxfordshire, Berh- 



shire, and Buchinghamshire. By W. Whitaker, B.A., F.G.S. — See 

 Reports, p. 327. 



